Little Luna
by jraeross
Summary: Luna was a sweet girl. Unfortunately, being sweet didn't mean she was happy. Until the day that she was saved. Until the day she found someone to rely on. Until the day she met Harry Potter. Tags: little!luna, pet!luna, domininant!harry, ddlg/cgl, littlespace, no lemons. Possible Lunar Harmony, most likely Huna. Rated M for dominant/submissive relationship, but should probably be T
1. Scene 1

Luna Lovegood loved relaxing at the docks. The gentle motions of the lake were soothing, encouraging her to imagine the wonderful creatures that lay beneath the surface. Regrettably, here at the beginning of November, the water was far tooo cold to dip her feet in. No one else ever seemed to come to this area of the castle, however, which she didn't mind at all. Her prior two years had been filled with constant bullying, and this year was shaping to be no different.

"Are we in the right place?", she heard someone call out near the bottom of the steps that descended to the docks.

"Don't give away our position, idiot, do you want her to get away? And yes, the first year Hufflepuff said Loony was headed down to the docks, so this is the right place."

Luna backed into a storage area, trembling, with her wand ready, hoping she wouldn't be seen.

 _"Expelliarmus"_

Her wand flew out of her hand, caught by Marietta Edgecomb.

Luna scrambled back into the corner of the storage shed, crying and shaking uncontrollably.

"Oh don't worry Loony, you'll get your wand back when we're done, won't she girls?"

The others looked at each other quizzically.

Marietta slapped a hand to her head. "Remind me again how you all got into Ravenclaw?… Nevermind…

Anyway, I was thinking we might leave the wand for her to pickup somewhere. Like maybe the forbidden forest."

Luna just whimpered in the corner.

Marietta sighed again. Showing the loser her place was getting less and less fun as time went on.

She shut the door of the storage area, and locked it with a _colloportus_ , leaving Loony to cry alone.

Luna didn't know how long she'd been in the dark storage shed. It wasn't the first time those girls had locked her in a closet, but it had always been inside the castle, where someone would eventually come along and hear her crying and let her out. But people didn't come down to the docks. Once they walked up those steps to the castle first year, no one ever returned. It had made it a wonderful place for her to escape from people, but now it was terrifying.

She could see nargles floating around, and that scared her even more. She knew perfectly well that Nargles only lived near mistletoe, in weather much colder than this. They quite simply could not be here, but she could see them. Her crying redoubled. It was so dark she couldn't see anything, but she could see creatures that she knew weren't there.

There was only one explanation. Luna was going crazy in here, just like her father had gone crazy when her mother had died four years ago. They'd always called her Loony, and it hurt, but she'd known that they were wrong. But now they weren't wrong anymore, she really _was_ Loony, and she couldn't do anything about it when she was locked up in here.

She let out a shriek of despair.

Harry was walking around the Docks, glad to have finally found escape from the glares that followed him everywhere in the school. Why couldn't people understand that he hadn't been the one to put his name in the Goblet? Surely they all knew how he hated his fame, so why on earth would they believe he was out seeking more?

As he ranted to himself, he thought he heard a sobbing from a closet. He shook his head. People didn't end up crying in closets he reminded himself. That was a punishment reserved for freaks like him. Yes, it was horrible. Yes, he still had nightmares about it. But that was no reason to start hallucinating and hearing voices, he'd seen how that turned out in his second year.

Maybe he should talk to Poppy about that, the next time he inevitabley found his way into the hospital wing.

Just then, a shriek erupted from the shed. It barely sounded human, so full of pain.

He rushed over to open the door, finding it locked. He tried an _alohomora_ on it, but nothing happened. If Hermione had been there, she would have known how to unlock the thing, but Harry didn't have that knowledge. So he backed up, and rammed into the door. It didn't give, but he heard splintering from the ancient, weather-beaten wood.

He rammed again and again, hearing the sobs muffle.

On his fourth try, the door splintered from its hinges, opening the wrong way.

Inside, he found a small girl. Her eyes were dim and frightened. She whispered something he couldn't make out.

"What was that?"

She whispered again, a little louder, "Are you real?"

He looked at the poor girl, confused. "Yes, I'm real. I just opened the door, because I heard you scream."

She shook her head. "I mean…,"she began, "You're not just in my head, are you?"

He knelt down by her, and took her hand. He was really worried for the girl now. "No, I'm not just in your head. I'm here. You're not alone anymore. Let's get you taken up to Madame Pomfrey."

He tried to pull her to her feet, but she immediately collapsed back down, unconscious.

He then picked her up, one arm around her shoulders, the other under her knees, and carried her up the steps to the castle, and further, to the Hospital Wing.


	2. Scene 2

Authors note:

I am aware that many of you consider my first scene to have been more of a snack than a chapter. This is intentional. There's a reason I'm posting in scenes rather than chapters. I, quite frankly, like to stress and nitpick to no end. As such, if I give myself a week or two to write a chapter, I will continue to pick at it for months until I'm ready to drop the project altogether. By posting in shorter bites that I can finish in a day or two, I hope I'll avoid those terrible habits #^-^#

Also, I thought I would note here before you develop false expectations: This story is a non sexual ddlg/cgl story. By that, I do not mean that Luna will be diapered, or spanked, or drink from bottles. Rather, she is a somewhat broken individual, who recognizes that she doesn't see the world in the same way as others anymore. She relies on Harry to guide her well, and make sure she's okay. She loves having his protection, and she craves his compassion and cuddling abilities because she has been starved for affection. In these circumstances, it's hardly surprising that she'd come to see him as a kind of father figure. I hope to make them extremely adorable with time.

I really have no idea yet where this story will end though, so I'm excited to find out :-)

I don't own Harry Potter, or Luna Lovegood.

But I love them enough that I'm here writing about them without pay anyway…

Enjoy!

-Jenn

####

Madame Pomfrey stifled a groan when she saw Harry Potter walking up the steps toward the infirmary. What could he possibly have done this time? She wasn't expecting him until the first task, but the boy always seemed capable of getting into more trouble than expected.

She was definitely not prepared, when he came to the door, to see that he was holding a small girl. The aforementioned child looked to be in terrible condition, covered in dirt, sunken cheekbones, hollow eyes. Madame Pomfrey was truly just happy to see the girl still breathing, and immediately set about checking her for obvious injuries, while interrogating Harry.

"Who is this? How did she get to be like this? Was there a fight? Did somebody use a variety of wasting curse? How did you come to carry her up here? You weren't responsible for this were you?" The questions came rapid fire, and Harry tried to answer as best he could.

"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I still don't know. I found her locked in a storage shed at the docks, and no, I am most certainly not responsible."

The Matron laid the girl down on a bed and began casting diagnostic charms. "No harmful or dark magic appears to be present in her system, but she's been starving for quite some time. I think I had best call the heads of house and find out her identity. You stay here Potter, they'll likely have some questions for you."

Madame Pomfrey went to the floo to call in the aforementioned teachers. When they all came back out of her office, Professor Flitwick identified her as one of his Ravenclaws, a third year named Luna Lovegood, and Professor McGonagall asked if they would be able to wake the girl. With Madame Pomfrey's somewhat reluctant consent, she cast an _enervate_ and Luna woke up gasping, scrambling back and bumping her head on the iron headboard.

She looked from face to face in a panic, before darting over to Harry and hugging him tight, mumbling into his shirt.

The teachers looked on perplexed. The scene was kind of cute, but they were very worried about the girl.

Pomfrey was the first to speak. "Luna, dear, could you tell us what happened?"

Luna leaned up to whisper something in Harry's ear.

"Yes Luna," Harry chuckled, "they're real."

More whispering.

"No, they aren't going to hurt you. You're not in trouble, they just want to know what happened to you."

Luna slowly nodded then dragged him over to the bed and sat him down, before sitting in his lap and pulling his arms around her. Madame Pomfrey notes that the poor thing was still shaking.

Luna opened her mouth, gave a puzzled look, then closed it again. "Umm… what did you want me to tell you again?"

Snape sneered at the girl. She was obviously not all there, so what did the others expect to get out of this interrogation?

Flitwick asked more specifically, " Luna dear, you've been missing from meals and classes for three days… And apparently you were just found in a shed at the docks. What happened, and how did you end up there?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose I was locked away by a group of trumpeting conspicketers."

Flitwick sighed, "We're not likely to get anything out of her, I'm afraid it's not the first time I've had this conversation."

Mcgonagall turned to him. "You mean this has happened before?", she asked incredulously.

"No, it isn't. The most extreme instance certainly, but not the first. There's nothing I can do if she won't reveal the culprits, however."

Snape snorted and strode forward, looking directly into Luna's eyes. After a few minutes he winced and pulled back, clutching his head.

Mcgonagall looked absolutely furious. "Severus, you didn't just attempt legilimancy on a student?! You know perfectly well that it's against the charter of this school!"

"Minerva, I couldn't read her blasted mind anyway. It's so upside down and inside out and full of holes that I almost got lost in there. If one were to attempt a full legilimancy on the girl, I doubt they'd make it out with their mind intact!"

She pursed her lips, the tension between the two scariest teachers at Hogwarts was almost palpable. Luna scooted further onto Harry's lap, squeezing him tight.

When their eye contact finally broke, the deputy headmistress pronounced that they would be discussing his actions later.

With nothing further they could do about the situation, the heads of house left. Madame Pomfrey stayed, after all it was her hospital wing. Harry stayed too, primarily because Luna refused to let go of him.

"Poppy?", Harry asked.

Madame Pomfrey turned to him, long since used to him calling her by her first name. It had started happening right around the same time they engraved his name permanently into one of the beds. "Yes, Mister Potter?"

"Luna here looks like she's absolutely starving, could we get some food brought up? I'd get it myself, but she seems rather, well, attached at the moment."

She chuckled before leaving to make food arrangements, Harry looked a little uncomfortable, but she could tell he really did care about the girl who was now stuck to him. It was rather adorable in a way. She idly wondered if maybe that could be translated into a decent bedside manner. She was long past due taking another apprentice, and Potter was already here half the school year as it was.

While she was away, Harry asked Luna why she didn't give away her assailants.

"What good would it do? They wouldn't be expelled, not with the current headmaster. They'd be given detentions, points would be taken, and they'd just get angry at me. The bullying wouldn't stop, it would only get worse."

When the food arrived, they were presented with another problem. Despite her rumbling stomach, Luna wouldn't eat. No matter how much Poppy cajoled her. When Harry asked her the reason, they found out that for a couple days before the incident, bullies had been somehow lacing her food with a potion that made her puke. She just couldn't bring herself to trust any food and was reduced to tears.

Harry carefully pried her off of himself, and called for Dobby.

The cheerful house elf cracked into the room immediately. "The great and powerful Lord Harry Potter sir calls for Dobby?! Dobby is unworthy sir, after what the magnificent Potter has done for Dobby. How can Dobby repay you sir?"

Luna giggled at the elf's antics, as Harry waited for the elf to stop so he could tell him why he'd been called.

"Dobby, I need you to bring a propane stove, a frying pan and spatula, a little bit of oil, a couple eggs, and a couple slices of bread here. Oh, and some plates as well. Do you think you can do that?"

"Dobby would be most honored, to serve the incredible, omnipo-"

Harry cut him off. "Then go, and hurry, I'm counting on you Dobby."

The elf cracked away, and seconds later, the materials Harry had asked for were in the hospital wing.

Poppy eyed the greasy stove suspiciously…

"What exactly are you doing, Mister Potter?"

"Cooking", he said as he started pan frying some toast.

Minutes later he had some simple scrambled eggs on toast. "It's a little plain, but I figured that would probably be for the best if you haven't eaten in so long. I cooked it myself so you could see that nothing has been added to it. It's perfectly fine Luna."

She eyed the plate of food apprehensively, frozen. She still seemed unable to make herself eat.

Harry sighed, then picked up a piece of toast, and held it up to her lips. She sat there for nearly a full minute before breaking down and nibbling at it, making no move to hold it herself.

Pomfrey watched as he fed the younger girl, barely keeping from beaming at the sight. His temperament would do quite well for a healer, in her not so humble opinion. She'd approach the headmaster later this week about permission to take an apprentice.


	3. Scene 3

Hermione was absolutely frantic. Beyond missing lunch and dinner yesterday, Ronald had informed her that Harry had never returned to the dorms last night. While Hermione was freaking out about this latest bit of information, the prat seemed downright pleased. Something about 'not having to see his ugly backstabbing mug' which, truth be said, Hermione thought an ironic statement on both counts, considering who said it.

She tracked down the Deputy Headmistress at breakfast to ask if she knew where Harry was and whether he was safe. McGonagall told her that he was in the hospital wing, but no he wasn't injured or sick or harmed in any way, but it wasn't her story to tell. She recommended Hermione ask him about it, but after breakfast, it wasn't urgent enough to warrant skipping a meal.

She left eagerly immediately after breakfast, however. When she arrived at the hospital wing, she wasn't sure what to expect. She was definitely not, however, expecting to see a little girl seemingly welded to Harry's side. Said girl had the most haunted eyes, and she was so skinny that Hermione knew she must have been starving somehow while at school. She looked… well, she looked like Harry did when he was on the train in their first year.

"Umm… Harry? You didn't come back to the dorms last night, and you weren't at lunch, so I was rather worried about you… This isn't because of the way you've been treated in Gryffindor Tower, is it? And who is this?"

Harry looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Good morning Hermione. And this is Luna Lovegood. I wasn't at Gryffindor tower because well… To be honest, I think that's Luna's story to tell if she wants to."

Hermione looked at the little girl expectantly.

"Harry had to save me from the Trumpeting Conspricketers. They'd snatched me up for a few days, and Harry found me and brought me back here."

"Trumpeting Conspricketers?"

"Yes, they're a vile type of creature that likes to hurt people that don't fit in. I think they're kind of like dementors, but they feed on loneliness. But it's ok now because I have Harry to protect me." She snuggled even tighter against her hero, trying to wrap her tiny arms around him.

Hermione didn't know what had really happened to the girl, but it was clearly horrifying if she'd had to make up a fake creature as a coping mechanism. Seeing Luna bury her face in Harry's shirt, clearly relying on him to feel safe, Hermione's overly large heart just melted, and she darted over to give the girl a huge hug.

"We're glad you're back Luna. And I'm even more glad you're safe."

####

Somehow, Madame Pomfrey had convinced Professor Dumbledore to permit Luna to attend classes with the fourth year Gryffindors. At first, Harry and Hermione had worried, as Luna was only a third year, but she was already a nearly a year ahead of her class, so there wasn't much catching up to do, as it turned out. Apparently spending three years without friends had encouraged her to do quite a bit of self-study.

It went very well for the first few days, with nothing truly unusual happening (at least so far as anything involving Luna could be considered usual). Friday afternoon, however, they had double potions, and Harry knew that if Snape so much as looked at Luna the wrong way, He was liable to blow a gasket in defense of her.

Outside the classroom, waiting to be let in, all of the Slytherin students were wearing badges that read in brightly glowing letters:

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY - THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

"Like them, Potter?", Malfoy sneered as they approached.

Luna cut him off by immediately going over and requesting three of them. Draco laughed as he pulled out a few of the badges to give to her.

"See that Potter? Even your new girlfriend doesn't support you over Diggory."

Luna just hummed as she pinned one to her robes, followed by pinning one each on Hermione and Harry.

"Luna… What are you thinking?! I thought you were Harry's friend!", Hermione hissed.

"I am. Harry has said repeatedly that he didn't put his name in the goblet, and that he doesn't want to compete in this tournament. If he doesn't want to be considered a champion, why not show support for Cedric?"

This gave Harry and Hermione pause before they both smiled.

Draco frowned.

"This isn't all they do - look!", he said as all of the Slytherins pressed their badges, and the words changed to:

POTTER STINKS!

Deciding to take after Luna, Harry just shrugged and ignored it, their three badges still showing support of Cedric.

A little while later, Harry was summoned away from the potions lab, Luna following him. Snape, finally seeing a chance to get at the trio, told her to get back to her seat, as she hadn't been excused.

Harry was ready to leap to her defense, but Luna had the upper hand in this situation too. "Actually, Professor, my written permission from the Headmaster states that I am permitted to attend classes with Harry. If Harry's not attending, I don't have permission to be here, so I'll take my leave.

"It's amazing, isn't it, Harry?" said Colin, starting to speak the moment they had closed the dungeon door behind them. "Isn't it, though? You being champion?"

"Actually Colin, Harry doesn't support the use of the title Champion. He prefers 'Unwilling Participant', as he didn't enter this tournament.", Luna offered helpfully.

"Oh wow!", Creevey* responded. "That makes you kind of like a sacrifice or something, really cool! I think this is the right room here and good luck!"

Harry winced at the description but ducked through the door. Bagman eagerly greeted him. "Ah, Harry! Champion Number Four! Come inside! And who is this you've got with you?"

"This is Luna Lovegood, a very close friend of mine."

"Well I'm deeply sorry Miss Lovegood, but this meeting is for Champions only, so I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

Luna smiled brightly, then dragged Harry out the door with her. Bagman chased after them. "Wait, you can't just take Harry, we need him for the Weighing of the Wands!"

Luna turned to him. "But you said that the meeting is only for Champions. Harry objects to the term, he prefers 'Unwilling Participant', and as you didn't say they were welcome, I just assumed Harry had been invited here by mistake." She smiled sweetly.

Bagman decided to clarify his statement. "Well… Ok, but in that circumstance, I suppose Unwilling Participants are also needed. You'll still have to stay out here though I'm afraid, sweetheart."

Luna handed him an official-looking document. "I'm afraid that will be quite impossible. See, Harry here was registered as a support animal to help me deal with crippling panic attacks and Hovering Flubbergrinder infestations. If I can't go, he can't go as we're not to be separated."

Bagman groaned. "Fine, you can come in, but behave yourself."

Harry gave the little girl a smile and ruffled her hair. For a second he thought she purred but decided it must have been a figment of his imagination.

As soon as they reentered, Harry was ambushed by Rita Skeeter, who was then ambushed by Miss Lovegood. "I'm sorry Reporter Skeeter, but Harry has an exclusivity contract that you would be violating if you tried to interview him."

The reporter turned around to look at the girl half her size. "Really? Is that so? And who would this contract be with, Miss…"

"Lovegood, Ma'am, Reporter Lovegood. I write for the Quibbler, you see, and Mister Potter here has agreed with me that it tends to be a far superior source of factual information."

Rita's smile started to look even faker than it had before. "Is that so… What a pity…", she said, before darting out the door.

"What just happened there, Luna?"

"Oh, she's just a terrible writer from the Daily Prophet who tries to paint good people in a bad light. No doubt she would have done her best to make the adult wizarding population believe you entered yourself in this tournament because you felt the need to be more famous than you already are."

Harry gulped. "And how did you get her to back off?"

"I just told her you had an exclusivity contract with the Quibbler. That's the paper my Father prints."

"I have an exclusivity contract?"

She pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. "Sign here please."

He signed, before kissing her forehead.

Nope. Not his imagination. She was definitely purring.

####

*Authors note: My laptop decided to auto-correct Creevey to Creepy… I was tempted to leave it as it was…


	4. Scene 4

Author's note:

I've had several comments that people can't wait to see dominant Harry. I'm gonna be real, it's gonna be gradual, you probably won't really see him that way for several more scenes. Why? Because canon Harry is, to be quite frank, really weak… He literally overcomes obstacles through dumb luck and relying on his allies. How is he going to stand up and protect Luna if he's not even strong enough to protect himself? Harry will be more powerful in this fic. He's not going to be a super!Harry, but he will definitely have more bite than he does in canon. It's just gonna take a little bit to get there.

####

"We will now begin the Weighing of the Wands.", Dumbledore announced.

Luna gasped, her eyes opening wide. "You mean… I get to find out how heavy Harry's wand is?"

The wizened headmaster turned to the young witch. "I'm afraid it's not that kind of weighing, Miss Lovegood. We're simply going to make sure his wand is in good working condition."

Harry reddened, Luna smirked, and it took Professor Dumbledore a good few seconds to realize what he said, before coughing and turning around. Luna could have sworn she heard him mutter, "I wish."

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see a very stern expression on her Harry's face. "Luna, that's enough. I'm glad you're here, but this is a serious occasion. Please don't make me regret bringing you."

Her heart plummeted. She couldn't lose her Harry, he was all she had. She slowly nodded her head, after which he ruffled her hair again. "Good girl."

He looked back up to the headmaster as if to say he could continue.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "For the wand weighing, Wand Maker Ollivander has come to inspect the condition your wands are in. Without further ado, Master Ollivander."

The ancient looking wand maker walked in the door, winking at Luna.

He first tested the wand of Fleur Delacour, conjuring a bunch of flowers.

He was a little friendlier with Cedric, reminiscing about the particularly fine male unicorn he'd retrieved the hair from, that was used in the wand. He asked if Cedric was taking good care of it. When the Hogwarts Champion responded that he had "polished it last night", Harry could see that Luna was barely holding in her laughter. He was quite proud of the little girl for trying though. He knew that seriousness wasn't exactly in her nature.

Victor's testing passed without incident. Ollivander spent quite a long time inspecting Harry's wand, before conjuring a shower of wine. Afterward, he pulled Harry close and whispered in his ear. "Be sure to look out for my granddaughter, will you Mister Potter? Also, take better care of your wand in the future. We wouldn't want you to strain its tie to the Menhirs."

Before Harry could ask him what he meant, he was swept out and down to breakfast.

####

When they found Hermione in the Great Hall, Harry had intended to ask Luna what Olivander had meant when he said 'Menhirs'. That plan was derailed, however, when Luna darted over to bury her face in his shirt and cry. She was mumbling something, but neither Harry nor Hermione could understand what was being said.

Hermione laid a hand on the sobbing girl's shoulder. "Luna dear, could you tell me what's wrong?"

Luna turned from Harry, scrunched up her face trying not to cry, then burst into tears anew as she buried her face in Hermione. It took a good few minutes to get her to calm down enough for Hermione to understand what she was saying.

Hermione's face grew serious.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Why is Luna under the impression that you don't want her around because she can't be serious enough?"

Harry's expression turned ashen.

"Luna!… You don't really believe that, do you? I definitely want you around, and you won't be without me as long as I have anything to say about it. I didn't mean that I didn't want you, I just need to help you learn when silliness isn't okay. Can you forgive me?"

The little girl slowly nodded before her face brightened considerably.

"You mean you're going to train me?!", she asked, positively bouncing up and down.

Harry looked at Hermione, confused at what she meant. Hermione didn't have a clue either, shrugging her shoulders.

"Umm… I guess we could try it?"

Luna squealed and rocketed over, wrapping her arms around Harry's neck. "Thank you, sir!"

"Sir?… Luna, I'm just Harry, same as I've always been…"

"No sir, if you're going to teach me, I need to show you the proper respect. At least, that's what my father always said to my mother, when she used to object to him calling her Ma'am…"

Harry didn't understand what that meant, but he saw Hermione turn a bright pink, and resolved to ask her later.

"Luna, there was something else I wanted to ask you. Your grandfather mentioned something about my wand connecting to Menhirs… What does that mean exactly?"

Luna looked at him strangely.

"You really don't know about the Menhirs, sir?"

"I've never heard of them before."

"Well to ask a question first, when you cast a spell, where does the magic come from, and why do you need a wand?"

Harry thought for a second. "Well, I suppose that the magic comes from inside me since I feel a warmth race through my body when I cast a spell with enough power. And the wand shapes the magic?"

Luna shook her head. "No, sir. The magic actually comes from ley lines of magic that run across the globe. What a wand does is connect you to a Menhir. The Menhirs are large pillars of rock, planted along the ley lines. They're covered in special runes, invisible to muggles, that harness the magic of the ley lines and shape it into a spell. When you say an incantation, and move your wand in the right pattern, it establishes a connection to the corresponding Menhir."

Harry shook his head. That didn't sound right.

"You mean wizards aren't magic? It's just the wands? What about accidental magic then? And why can't a muggle or a squib use a wand?"

"Both of those have the same explanation. Blood binding. Accidental magic is a set of protective spells, attached to us by blood, rather than by wand. Because it's always connected to us, it can happen without us saying an incantation or even holding a wand, hence the term accidental. Most spells come from Menhirs that are in Atlantis. Wizards and witches are just people descended from those Atlanteans, which means we can use the Atlantean Menhirs. Muggles and squibs can't use magic because they don't have the Atlantean gene, so the Menhirs won't respond to them."

Harry's head hurt. Apparently, he said that out loud because Luna giggled and told him that they could discuss it later.

She then hopped into his lap and pulled his hand up to her head, evidently expecting him to ruffle her hair.

He obliged, Luna purred, and Hermione turned pink again.

####

AN: I know there was a fair bit of waffle in there, and I apologize. My magic system is going to differ from canon, and I needed to roughly explain what's going to happen.

The denseness of this section is a large part of why I hesitated so long to post this scene (^_^;)

I'll probably wind up changing this scene slightly later on (nothing major tho, I just need to figure out how to make it feel less stiff…)

I'm still severely new at this, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.


	5. Scene 5

"I don't show favoritism, me. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is - play to your strengths.", Professor Moody growled.

"I haven't got any," said Harry.

The ever-present Luna giggled. "I think you answered that a little to fast there Sir. I know you're really good at sneaking around. Why, you spent the whole Hogsmeade weekend with Hermione and me, but no one saw you at all."

Harry spluttered. "That's not something I can do without my… without my-"

Moody chuckled at Harry's obvious discomfort. "I know all about your cloak boy. All of the staff do, you haven't exactly kept it much of a secret."

"Regardless Professor, I won't have it when I'm facing the dragon."

"That's true, and even if you did have it, you'd still need to deal with its sense of smell and keen hearing. But here comes my second piece of advice. If you don't have what you need, use a nice simple spell to get the supplies you need."

Harry Potter walked out of the champions tent, pausing to wave at Luna and Hermione who were sitting in the front stands, appearing totally nonchalant, and definitely not like he was about to face a beast capable of ending his life by breathing on him.

Wasting no time he whipped out his wand.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!"_ , he cried, levitating a trunk from over by his friends into the stadium. He took out his cloak before pointing his wand at the trunk and muttering an incantation. The trunk exploded, launching a collection of _Dr Filibuster's No Heat Wet Start Fireworks_ and Dungbombs flying over the stadium.

In the ensuing pandemonium, neither the audience nor the dragon noticed Harry vanish into thin air. Covered by the noise and distraction of the fireworks and the stench of the Dungbombs, Harry was able to walk right up to the nest, pull the golden egg into his cloak and stroll over to the exit.

He reappeared, waved until the judges noticed him, and ducked into the medical tent where he was immediately beset upon by Madame Pomfrey.

"Alright Potter, what injuries have you got into this time?"

"I actually managed to get through without any this time, Poppy. In and out without fighting the dragon at all."

Victor looked outraged, while Fleur let off a very unladylike snort.

"Ze Boy says 'e did not fight ze dragon. If zat is so, what was zat awful banging zat occurred? Clearly, just like when 'e entered 'is name, zis is a, how do you say, often lies?"

Rita Skeeter, who had just poked her head into the tent helpfully offered that the phrase she was looking for was 'Pathological Liar', which she gleefully wrote down in her notes.

Just as Rita was about to ask Harry what he thought was the cause of his terrible habit, she was interrupted.

"Hem Hem", a terribly fake cough echoed from right behind her.

She whirled around instantly. "What can I do for you Boss- I mean Madame Umb-"

But standing before her was not her boss in all but name. Rather, Luna was standing there, doing her best impression of a toad. Seeing Rita's reaction, Luna's expression brightened considerably. She'd always wondered who's pocket Rita was in, and now had her suspicions confirmed.

"While the respect is appreciated Miss Skeeter, need I remind you of Mr. Potter's exclusivity agreement with The Quibbler? Should you persist in attempting to interview him, I'll need to sic Hagrid's Cerberus on you."

Miss Skeeter blanched. "Don't you mean you'll start a lawsuit? Im relatively confident in our lawyers, so I highly doubt it'll be so bad as your analogy."

"No, I meant I'll literally have to sic a Cerberus on you. It's outlined in the aforementioned contract, so I couldn't be held liable for my actions. Now that you mention it though, I'd be happy to file a lawsuit as well."

After a panicked reporter left the tent, Harry just had to ask Luna, "You didn't actually put a Cerberus clause in that contract did you?"

"Of course not, I'm not crazy. I hope. But she doesn't know that."

Harry pulled her into a hug. "You're not crazy Luna, so don't even worry about it."

"So when you let off all those dung bombs it really did attract a swarm of fizzgulping gumperpuds?"

Harry was startled, and Luna knew what that meant, so she burst into tears on his shoulder as he stroked her hair.

As Harry and Luna walked down to breakfast in the great hall the next morning, they were greeted by stares, gasps, and snickers from the rest of the student population. As they sat down, a grim faced Hermione handed Harry a copy of the Daily Prophet. Right on the front page was a picture of Luna and him hugging in the tent after the first task.

'" _A Pair of Lovers? Or a Pair of Liars?" by Anonymous'_ , was the title, and it went on to describe how Harry Potter was an incessant liar, who was dating a young, clearly insane girl. Said girl was a reporter, who had obviously earned the exclusivity contract she had with the celebrity by sleeping with him.

Harry was shocked at how angry this article was making him. He wasn't hurt or upset himself, but Rita Skeeter had set out to hurt Luna, and that made him absolutely furious.

Luna ran away in tears when she saw the article, too fast for him to catch her.

Right then, Harry resolved that he would become more powerful. Magically, monetarily, politically, socially, he was going to get stronger. Because he needed to protect Luna.

And Skeeter? That insect was going to pay for what she'd done to his little Luna. He was going to enjoy destroying her when the time came.

Luna was crying in the bathroom when she heard the stall door open behind her. She barely had time to turn around before being petrified and silenced, seeing her old gang of bullies standing over her frozen form, whispering and laughing.

"What do we have here?"

"A little girl who belongs in an asylum I think."

"Did the pathetic little ditz really think she'd just be able to hide behind Potter for the rest of her life?"

"I heard the little slut's been sleeping with him."

"Well I heard that she's just trying to get his money, the gold digging starts young in her family."

"Evidently her last punishment wasn't enough to get her to learn her place, we should fix that."

Curses and kicks landed across her frozen body, regardless of how she cried. She could feel boils raising over her skin, her tongue swelling so she thought she would choke. A rib definitely cracked, and she had bruises all over her legs and arms before a kick to her head made everything turn black.

AN: Sorry for being gone for so long. I offer no excuse.

As for the anticlimactic task…

Well I've always found him spending the night learning a new spell when a first year spell would have sufficed to be quite ridiculous. And trying to outfly a Dragon? Apex predator of the skies? Even more ridiculous.

Omake 1?:

Dolores Umbridge whistled as she walked up to her house and unlocked the door. It was always good to get home after a long day at work. Well, almost always. Maybe not today. Because as she walked in the doorway, she felt something drip right on her head. Looking up, she screamed as she found herself face to face to face to face with a giant three headed dog.


	6. Scene 6

Authors note:

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this. I offer no excuses #^-^;#

Also, I'm ending the 'sir' debacle. It just doesn't fit my Luna... I could never have Luna be anything other than her quirky, fun loving self that I'm trying to paint here and that kind of behavior just wouldn't fit. For now I'm not inclined to edit it out; instead I'm leaving it as a reminder to myself to not be an idiot in the future. I might eventually redo it. Maybe.

Here we go (there is a time skip, but you'll get to see some of the AU magic here):

* * *

When Harry came to the Great Hall without Luna, it didn't go unnoticed. As he eagerly (but fruitlessly) scanned the tables, whispers flirted about the great hall concerning why he didn't know where she was. Did they have a falling out? Was she secretly in a relationship with someone else?

When Hermione saw what was happening, her eyebrows crinkled in concern. Harry however did not look concerned. No, if Ron had looked up from his food, he'd probably have exclaimed something akin to "Harry, you look bloody terrified!"

And terrified he was. He didn't even sit down to eat, preferring to pace the great hall, watching the door in the hopes that she would walk through and join him for breakfast as usual.

When Hermione came over to lay a hand on his shoulder, she heard him muttering to himself.

"I told her not to agree to go under the lake. Surely as long as Dumbledore is one of the judges, he wouldn't permit her to go under without her consent. Did someone go behind his back? Or maybe he's not as good as I thought he was? I don't know, but she's gone. She's gone under the lake. I told her to say no, but she's under the lake."

Hermione cut off his rambling there. "Harry. You did what you could. You told her what to do, and something happened that you didn't anticipate. We've gone over your plan for this task before. Aside from who you're rescuing, nothing has changed. Luna trusts you to keep her safe. Now you just need to trust yourself." She kissed his cheek before pulling him over to the docks.

When the Task began, three competitors dove into the freezing water. Two of them used the bubblehead charm, while one went above and beyond with self-transfiguration. Harry meanwhile stayed standing on the docks in his robes, not having even bothered to change into a swimsuit to the consternation of the audience.

He closed his eyes, holding his wand straight up in two fists with his left hand over his right. At a whispered incantation unheard by the audience, a silver aura started to emanate from the Boy-Who-Lived. He returned the wand to his robes before reaching a hand out to draw silvery lines in the air.

"What's he doing just standing there?", the youngest Weasley grumbled.

"It's the Potter family magic," Hermione whispered to him. "He told me that the most powerful spells in the grimiore were actually made to be cast with parselrunes. Since only a parselmouth can understand or write them, it makes it almost impossible for someone to steal it."

"But the Potters were a light family", Ron spluttered. "They weren't Parselmouths!"

"Honestly Ronald, you know that parseltongue is a genetic ability, where did you think Harry got it from? It's not like his Muggleborn mother was a super secret descendant of Salazar Slytherin, that would just be preposterous."

Meanwhile Harry had finished drawing his runes. He opened his eyes revealing a blaze of silver fire before once again producing his wand to tap the rune set.

"*Salvo Patronum*", he bellowed, the aura sucking back into his body before shooting out his wand and through the runes. Out above the lake the silvery flames gathered and congealed into a giant silver serpent with eight pairs of wings.

"Find Luna Lovegood", He commanded the creature. "She is in danger at the bottom of the lake. Bring her back to me."

It flew out to the middle of the lake before diving down to it's depths. It resurface moments later with the girl gingerly held in its jaws. Luna was just beginning to stir when she was set in Harry's arms and the creature faded away.

"Are you ok, Little Moon?", he whispered to her.

She nodded her head, followed by her eyes tearing up. She clenched them shut and buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing "I'm sorry" over and over again.

"Shhh… It's okay little one.", he continued to reassure her. "You're safe with me now. And when I find out who put you down there after you said no, I'll ensure they won't do anything to you ever again."

She just started to sob harder. "But I didn't say no", she choked out. "McGonagall said that if you didn't have a hostage, the Goblet might strip your magic, so when she asked if I would do it, I said yes. I didn't want you to have to leave Hogwarts… What would I have done without you?"

She felt his arms tightening around her before he responded. "It's okay. Everything is okay now. I'm never going to leave you alone, you know that right?"

When she nodded he continued. "However, what you did was reckless. If you hadn't said yes, there were other people who would have. Hermione had already said she'd agree if it was necessary. I know that you were just trying to protect me, but that's not your job. I'm the protector here, understood?"

Before she could nod again he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

* * *

After Luna managed to talk Harry and Poppy out of having her stay in the infirmary overnight (though they did still insist on a calming draught and some pepper-up) Harry walked with her back to the Gryffindor common room, the two of them planning to spend the rest of the day reading stories on the couch to calm down. What they hadn't anticipated was for the common room to be in a full blown party, letting out a cheer when they walked in.

"You all seem rather pleased.", Luna noted. "Did you happen to find a snorkack?"

Ron came up and threw an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Don't be ridiculous Loony, we're celebrating how Harry showed that Gryffindor is better than that stuck up Hufflepuff Diggory."

Most of Gryffindor continued to party, Fred and George crowing that even they hadn't ever managed to make Snape's face turn the shade of puce as when Harry even pulled a ten out of a begrudging Karkaroff. Only those closest to the exchange between Ron and Harry felt the temperature suddenly drop.

Harry shrugged off Ron's arm, and continued walking with Luna toward the couch.

"Oh come on, mate. Celebrate with us!", Ron said, reaching for Harry's shoulder. His hand was roughly batted away

"With all due respect Ron, what makes you think that I'm your mate?"

"Blimey Harry, what are you going on about now? We've always been mates."

"We were at one point, but to be honest, I don't understand how I ever considered you a friend, Weasley."

Ron frowned at this and his face began to turn red. "What are you going on about Harry?"

Harry held his hand out to Luna. "Come on Little Moon, we'll find a place to read where you won't be hassled by people like him."

She took his hand as they proceeded to walk right through the wall underneath a portrait of a knight fighting an eight headed hydra.

When his brain caught up to what had happened, Ron ran to the wall, but collided with the stonework and earned a goose egg for his trouble.

* * *

Harry and Luna arrived at the Room of Requirement a few minutes later, asking it to configure itself as the private bedroom that Luna had been using for the past months. When she hadn't been capable of returning to the Ravenclaw tower in the aftermath of her bullying, Harry had asked the house elves if they knew of a place where Luna could find shelter from her tormentors. The cheerful creatures had been all too pleased to point the two of them to the Come and Go Room.

The bedroom was simple, furnished like the other student dorms in the castle, but Luna had done her best to make the space her own. They'd initially had the room decorate the space in Ravenclaw colors, but one would never know that now by looking at it. Luna had covered the walls with murals of the places she'd travelled to with her father, and the fantastical creatures they still searched for. Canvases stood in several places, waiting for her to continue working on them. The furniture, bedding, and rugs had all been splashed with color change charms, turning to brightly hued shades of turquoise, zephyr, fuschia, periwinkle, and lime.

Strings of butterbeer corks and fairy lights hung from the ceiling, draped everywhere to fend off nargles, and in the far corner of the room was a tall bookshelf, with the books written by her grandfather Curio Lovegood in his travels, and his father before him Goodlove Lovegood. (There were none written by her great-great-grandfather however, he was kind of a quack, in Luna's humble opinion.)

Harry had made it a habit to read from these books to Luna until she fell asleep each night, to help her feel safe and protected. Tonight, he figured, she probably needed this more than ever.

A knock at the door announced Hermione's presence. She wasn't able to come every night with her class workload, but the Gryffindor girl came whenever she was able. This night, she decided that she would be the one to read to Luna about how Curio Lovegood had gone to the middle of the Sahara to find a henceforth undiscovered limpsnark.

At first Hermione had been rather opposed to reading stories to Luna about creatures that didn't exist, until Harry had pulled out his care of magical creatures textbook and shown her that many of the creatures mentioned did seem to exist. They were just under different names. He still however had no idea what a snorkack was.

When Luna finally fell asleep, Harry and Hermione both gave her a kiss before slipping out the door.


End file.
